The Ronald Reagan Murder Case: A George Tirebiter Mystery

by David Ossman

THE RONALD REAGAN MURDER CASE is a 60,000-word comedy mystery novel, set in Hollywood in January 1945, which introduces George Tirebiter, then a 25 year-old radio star, in his first "celebrity detective" role. Two murder mysteries engage George in this novel. In one, he discovers that the apparent murder of Ronald Reagan's movie double could have been an early CIA double-cross, fabricated by Bill "Wild Bull" Casey! Could our beloved ex-President actually be his own stand-in? Tirebiter also follows a long covered-up killer's trail back to 1920 and solves the scandalous death of a prominent silent film director. A popular nudist camp and a famous blue movie figure prominently in the solution to this screen story, while the Golden Age adventure involves cross-dressing, army intelligence, glamorous movie stars and two live radio comedy broadcasts. The second one, which stars Lt. "Dutch" Reagan in a tribute to Air Force Bombers, is interrupted by gunfire, and not from the sound-effects man. In 1945, Tirebiter was riding high on CBS network radio. He and his wife, one-time glamorous showgirl Lillie Lamont, starred in the popular Friday night comedy-and-music program, "Hollywood Madhouse." At the same time, George's career as a movie director at Paranoid Pictures had plateaued with yet another B programmer, "First WAC in Tokyo." A survivor of the Tarnished Age of Hollywood, George was blacklisted in the Fifties and forgotten for years, only to make a comeback during the Underground Sixties and actually run for Vice President of the U.S. in 1976 on the Nat'l Surrealist Party ticket. George "Porgie" Tirebiter was made famous by The Firesign Theatre in their million-selling album Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers. (1970). Played by David Ossman, Tirebiter has appeared in many live stage shows and radio broadcasts, the best of which are ready-to-hear in the 5-CD "George Tirebiter Collection," distributed by the Lodestone Catalogue. Tirebiter's long career, like that of Sherlock Holmes, continues to be far realer than fiction itself.

196 pages, Paperback

First published December 25, 2006

About the author

David Ossman is an American writer and comedian, best known as a member of The Firesign Theatre and screenwriter of such films as Zachariah.

Reviews

[Robert Belew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of The Firesign Theatre, you likely are familiar with the style
of writing and humor of the Four ( or Five ) crazy guys, including David Ossman.
If not, you owe it to yourself to seek them out and catch up.
This book, while it borrows from that radio theatre genre and brand of humor,
it is different in that the author has created a true detective noir with great descriptive
moments that drop you into 1940s Hollywood with a blend of realism and fiction where
the lines sometimes blur.
The story is peppered with references for Firesign fans to pick up on
and snicker at.
I laughed till I stopped.